With the underwater subcontinent of Vashj’ir making up a significant part of the leveling experience inWorld of Warcraft: Cataclysm Classic, having a mount that thrives underwater is important for your journeys through the expansion. Most mounts are ground and flying mounts, meaning that they will actually slow down when submerged in water. Aquatic mounts, on the other hand, will greatly increase your movement speed while underwater.

While modern World of Warcraft has added many aquatic and aquatic-hybrid mounts over the years, in the Cataclysm era, only three aquatic mounts exist. These three mounts are the Abyssal Seahorse, the Subdued Seahorse, and the Sea Turtle.

a highmountain tauren on a vashj’ir seahorse mount (aka abyssal seahorse) while swimming in vashj’ir

Abyssal Seahorse

The first, and easiest, aquatic mount to get is theAbyssal Seahorse. If you are also a player of modern World of Warcraft, you may recognize this mount from its alternate name, the Vashj’ir Seahorse.

Known as the Abyssal Seahorse in Cataclysm, you simply have tocomplete the introductory quests to Vashj’ir. The quest"The Abyssal Ride" in the Kelp’thar Forestof the undersea subcontinent awards this mount. As it is an essential story quest, it is hard not to obtain this mount if you are leveling through this zone.

the sea pony battle pet, in an enchanted water bubble on the docks of darkmoon island

The Abyssal Seahorse hasa matching companion pet called Sea Pony. Although it is purely cosmetic, if you want to ride through the seas in style, go fishing on Darkmoon Island when the Darkmoon Faire is occurring to obtain it.

Subdued Seahorse

The Subdued Seahorse mount is a green version of the Abyssal Seahorse, and is significantly harder to obtain.It is onlydropped by one rare mob,a blue and purple seahorse named Poseidus.

Poseidus is an extremely rare mob thatcan spawn in five areas. Four of these areas are in the Shimmering Expanse of Vashj’ir.

a highmountain tauren on a sudued seahorse mount, swimming through vashj’ir

One spot it can spawn is in the middle of the red-tingedGlimmerdeep Gorge. Another one is in the drownedRuins of Thelserai Temple. It can also spawn amidst the kvaldir ofBiel’aran Ridge. The last spot it can spawn within the Shimmering Expanse is theNar’shola Terraceof the Ruins of Vashj’ir.

The last spot that Poseidus can spawn is in theAbyssal Depths, the deepest part of Vashj’ir. Here,it can be found near the southern end ofUnderlight Canyon.

map of the shimmering expanse of vashj’ir with the spawn points of the rare mob poseidus circled in orange

Sea Turtle

Thesea turtle mount is also more difficult to obtainthan the abyssal seahorse, although it is the only aquatic mount that isn’t a seahorse, soit may be worth your time.

On the surface, obtaining a Sea Turtle seems easy.All you need to do is to go fishing. When you dig deeper, you will learn thatit can only be fished out of the waters of certain zones.

map of the abyssal depths of vashj’ir, with the spawn point of the rare mob poseidus circle in orange

These zones areall the zones of Northrend, the four leveling zones added to Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms,Deepholm, andDarkmoon Island. The four zones where it can be fished up on Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms areMount Hyjal, Uldum, Twilight Highlands, and Vashj’ir.

If you aim to go fishing on Darkmoon Island, know that you can only access the island when the Darkmoon Faire is active, which is during the first week of every month.

the sea turtle mount in the mount journal interface